OMG these people really are bad. I mean, what a three-ring circus. Are they just so full of themselves that they think they can say whatever they want and dont have to discipline their speech to hew to an actual policy?

Obama, you remember, drew a red line off the top of his head committing us to military action against Syria. And now Secretary of State John Kerry has offered Syria a splendid opportunity to delay, confuse the issue, and confound the United States.

Asked at a news conference today in Britain if there was anything Syrian President Assad could do to avoid an attack, Kerry mused, Sure, he could turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next week  turn it over, all of it, without delay and allow the full and total accounting.

Kerrys own spokeswoman described this as a rhetorical exercise rather than a proposal, according to the New York Times.

But the Russians, who practice diplomacy like an art form and love to confuse issues, could barely contain their delight. They decided, with rational thought that somehow eludes U.S. leaders, that what the Secretary of State says is in fact U.S. policy. And so Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who was meeting in Moscow with Syrias foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, offered Russias kind assistance in corralling Syrias chemical weapons. Moallem said Syria welcomes Russias proposal.

So now, completely by accident, a very serious alternative to bombing Syria has emerged. The opportunity here for mischief and delay is unlimited  Oh, were rounding up the weapons, but this takes time, and of course UN inspectors must confirm, and  wait  arent there a few more? . . .

They may get cover. But America will not. Somewhere down the line, we will have to deal with this just like we did with Saddam, because with this ‘international inspector’ BS, we are now locked in for years to come.

ad hoc foreign policy? Make it up as you go. problem is, Putin is playing chess, Obama does not even know how to play checkers and thinks he is playing 3D Chess . You are correct this country's prestige is down the toilet.

15
posted on 09/09/2013 9:09:40 PM PDT
by Tupelo
(There are no Republicans or Democrats in Washington. Just Millionaires protecting their turf.)

The government is used to being able to lie without consequence or detection by the masses. Now that social media has flattened the practice of news reporting, destroying the government-media information monopoly, they have no protocols for dealing with getting caught lying, and what we are witnessing here is the result.

In any previous age, the people would have submissively gone along with the program, they’d believe whatever the TV told them, and they’d have no access to information that went counter to the official narrative.

It begs one to wonder which events in the past have also been false, through and through - besides the many that we already know about.

This looks like a win-win for all the players all away around except for Saudi Arabia and its proxies fighting against Iran's proxies in Syria.

Under the terms of such a deal Assad would relinquish chemical weapons which are of marginal utility militarily and of distinct liability in terms of triggering an international reaction which causes Western powers to bring down the Assad regime. In return for this, Asad buys months and months of time to negotiate the terms of the deal and to submit to the complicated on the ground inspection necessary to verify the deal. If the German intelligence intercepts to the effect that the poison gas was used by rogue elements of the Assad forces are accurate, it is clear that Asad might not actually be able to account for or deliver all such weapons. In any event the process of verification will be difficult and protracted which time the Russians will exploit.

Meanwhile, Russia will gain diplomatic prestige and, more importantly, cover to expand its naval and military presence in the Levant. It will undoubtedly vastly increase its weapons supplied to Asad which he will use to prosecute his civil war. It is probable that the Russians will become more involved in aiding Assad beyond merely supplying weapons, although they will undoubtedly now supply more sophisticated weapons, and they will probably supply technicians etc.

To the degree that the United States had as its policy the destruction of the Assad regime, that policy has been markedly sent back. Obama will be happy, however, because he has been extricated from a self-inflicted humiliation and will crow about removing weapons of mass destruction from Syria and making the world safer etc. If the United States intends to supply weapons to the rebels that will be made far more dangerous by the increased presence of the Russians. Expect the Russians to flex naval muscles in the Mediterranean basin which makes the world a far more dangerous place, not safer as Obama will claim.

The Russia-Iran-Syria axis will have been strengthened and the Saudis will feel even more isolated and threatened because the precedent has been established that Russia will protect its client states against American threats of bombing and can now do so to protect Iran. Expect that to come in good time. Therefore, although Obama himself will be pleased with this deal, the national interests of the United States have been tragically sent back.

Iran is now to be protected by the Russian nuclear umbrella in its quest for the atomic bomb and there is virtually no chance now of denying Iran the bomb.This represents one of the greatest strategic disasters for the United States since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Recently Israel has been attempting a diplomatic opening with Russia and that might come in handy now that Russia's military will be expanding quite literally on Israel's doorstep.

The long-term consequences of Russia's intrusions into the Middle East cauldron severely reduce both American leverage and Israeli security, while increasing prospects for continuing terrorism and nuclear proliferation.

The irony of all of this is that Obama will come out smelling like a rose.

Kerry is such a DOLT!!! He is in (nearly) the same class as Biden, and these people control the fate of a Nation.... I guess you elect idiots you get an unlimited amount of idiots appointed to offices. Come to think of it, this is DOLT #2 in charge of DoS under this regime.

The Russia-Iran-Syria axis will have been strengthened and the Saudis will feel even more isolated and threatened because the precedent has been established that Russia will protect its client states against American threats of bombing and can now do so to protect Iran. Expect that to come in good time. Therefore, although Obama himself will be pleased with this deal, the national interests of the United States have been tragically sent back.

Iran is now to be protected by the Russian nuclear umbrella in its quest for the atomic bomb and there is virtually no chance now of denying Iran the bomb.This represents one of the greatest strategic disasters for the United States since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Now, that is an excellent, clearly worded analysis. I was trying to explain it to a (somewhat) disaffected Obama supporter, but your description is much more concise. Do you mind if I quote it to a few people?

That said, does Russia really trust an Iran with nukes?

36
posted on 09/09/2013 10:26:59 PM PDT
by Paul R.
(We are in a break in an Ice Age. A brief break at that...)

Given Putin's rhetoric concerning terrorism generally and his brutal intercession in Chechnya against whom he regards as terrorists there, one would expect him to be opposed to terrorists across the board together with their sponsoring states and one would further expect him to be opposed to the states acquiring atomic weapons.

In judging these things, we should expect the nation to act in accordance with its perceived national interests. The question is how does Putin perceive those interests? How Putin perceives the world, of course, is not congruent with how a Western man sees the world. He is a KGB agent at heart, he is a thug, an autocrat, and a man who has expressed the bizarre thought that the worst thing that has happened in the century was the demise of the Soviet Union and presumably its Empire. His record shows that he has sought to restore that Empire where possible and by means not known to be fastidious. He quite obviously harbors animus against the USA. There is the imponderable tendency among autocrats to live out their fantasies unchecked because of the level of their arrogance. It might be that Putin in his arrogance thinks he can co-opt and control a nuclear Iran. It might be that he just likes the game.

There have been historic ambitions by the Russians in Persia and some interest in its resources.

Ultimately, nations and leaders should be judged not on their rhetoric but on their behavior and history shows that Russia, both before and with Putin, have always attempted to exert their influence in Iran. History tells us that it will continue.

Thank you for the kind words concerning my reply which, of course, you can use but I would be grateful for a hat tip.

"Its okay, obviously God had a hand in it, and caused the pompous moron to utter that statement. Millions of prayers were answered and WWIII postponed for a little longer. Make the most of it..."..........

BTTT.

40
posted on 09/10/2013 12:11:22 AM PDT
by hummingbird
(Don't be afraid of the big words.)

The original, November 1961 A.E.C. estimate of the yield was 5560 Mt, but since 1991 all Russian sources have stated its yield as 50 Mt. Khrushchev warned in a filmed speech to the Supreme Soviet of the existence of a 100 Mt bomb (technically the design was capable of this yield). Although simplistic fireball calculations predicted the fireball would impact the ground, the bomb's own shock wave reflected back and prevented this.[9] The fireball reached nearly as high as the altitude of the release plane and was visible at almost 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) away from where it ascended. The subsequent mushroom cloud was about 64 kilometres (40 mi) high (over seven times the height of Mount Everest), which meant that the cloud was above the stratosphere and well inside the mesosphere when it peaked. The base of the cloud was 40 kilometres (25 mi) wide. All buildings in the village of Severny (both wooden and brick), located 55 kilometres (34 mi) from ground zero within the Sukhoy Nos test range, were destroyed. In districts hundreds of kilometers from ground zero wooden houses were destroyed, stone ones lost their roofs, windows and doors; and radio communications were interrupted for almost one hour. One participant in the test saw a bright flash through dark goggles and felt the effects of a thermal pulse even at a distance of 270 kilometres (170 mi). The heat from the explosion could have caused third-degree burns 100 km (62 mi) away from ground zero. A shock wave was observed in the air at Dikson settlement 700 kilometres (430 mi) away; windowpanes were partially broken to distances of 900 kilometres (560 mi).[10] Atmospheric focusing caused blast damage at even greater distances, breaking windows in Norway and Finland. The seismic shock[verification needed] created by the detonation was measurable even on its third passage around the Earth.[11] Its seismic body wave magnitude was about 5 to 5.25.[9] The energy yield was around 8.1 on the Richter scale but, since the bomb was detonated in air rather than underground, most of the energy was not converted to seismic waves. The TNT equivalent of the 50 Mt test could be represented by a cube of TNT 312 metres (1023 feet) on a side, approximately the height of the Eiffel Tower.

42
posted on 09/10/2013 1:04:36 AM PDT
by uncommonsense
(Liberals see what they believe; Conservatives believe what they see.)

>>>The heat from the explosion could have caused third-degree burns 100 km (62 mi) away from ground zero. A shock wave was observed in the air at Dikson settlement 700 kilometres (430 mi) away; windowpanes were partially broken to distances of 900 kilometres (560 mi).[10] Atmospheric focusing caused blast damage at even greater distances, breaking windows in Norway and Finland. The seismic shock[verification needed] created by the detonation was measurable even on its third passage around the Earth.[11] Its seismic body wave magnitude was about 5 to 5.25.[9] The energy yield was around 8.1 on the Richter scale but, since the bomb was detonated in air rather than underground, most of the energy was not converted to seismic waves.<<<

In short, just a wing of bombers armed with a cruise missiles equipped with a full-yield warheads like that are enough to ruin Japan or UK.

The bad karma of tens of thousands of dishonored Purple Heart recipients WILL catch up with the mendacious evil-doer. Furthermore, as with other corruptions, the corrupt will carry stunted intellect, hubris and arrogance to every venue at which he appears.

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